Anybody ever heard of QUESTION 7? I tracked down a video copy, going to give it a look tonight. Here's the All Movie Guide description;
QUOTE
Christian de Bresson plays the son of East German minister Michael Gwynn. The Communist regime has decreed that all children of "dissidents" will be denied entry in a prestigious music conservatory. Anxious to be accepted, young de Bresson prepares to answer the seven questions required by the conservatory, the seventh of which will require him to deny his religious convictions. Before this can happen, the boy is invited by the Communist Party to perform at the Berlin Youth Festival. The boy's father protests, knowing that the Communists intend to use his son as a political pawn, to "prove" to the world that East Germany affords equal rights to persons of the cloth. Financed by Lutheran Film Associates, Question 7 was given an honored showcase by the Berlin Film Festival--held, of course, in the western sector. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The NYT review by Bosley Crowther (love that name!) is reasonably positive ("there is an extraordinary timeliness and dramatic immediacy..."), though he finds the characterization of the father unconvincing, and the Communist heavies melodramatic. And he points out that "This film, like MARTIN LUTHER, was produced in West Germany by Lothar Wolff and was directed by Stuart Rosenberg. It has a genuine Germanic look. " ("Germanic look"?)
So: Lutheran or MRA? Awfulness, or dramatic immediacy?
Stay tuned.